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I was plagued by the Hum for years. At times it became astonishingly loud. But I was able (eventually) to figure it out. Short version: I made many attempts to
by Johnythree 9y ago
I was plagued by the Hum for years. At times it became astonishingly loud. But I was able (eventually) to figure it out.
Short version: I made many attempts to track it down. Used low frequency Microphones, filters, amplifiers, etc, as well as PC Spectrogram programs to try and and visualise and record it. Visited many nearby industries etc to try and find it. But none of my attempts did any good.
As I'm a Radio Engineer I spent ages experimenting with VLF Receivers, Spectrum Analysers, etc.
One thing I noticed however was that the Hum was much worse when I was living in a quiet rural area.
One night however, I noticed that I could affect the hum by doing the swallow maneuver that divers use to equalise ear pressure. I slowly came to understand that my Hum was an internally generated sound.
Apparently there are various possible mechanisms: The simplest is blood flow near the ear. But also the tiny hairs in the ear canal actually have tiny muscles which cause feed-back or "regeneration" to make our ears more sensitive, and the frequency response of each hair cell much sharper. However at times, this regeneration can slip over into actual Oscillation.
This ability of the ear to actually generate sounds is well documented. It can actually be loud enough for a Doctor or a partner to hear. It's called Objective tinnitus.
In my case, the Hum eventually disappeared and has never returned. I suspect that it coincided with a change in blood pressure medication, but I can't be sure.
Looking back, I would suggest that it may be worth trying to amplify the sounds via a set of high-quality earphones and appropriate filters, etc, using the headphones as microphones.
- 07d046 9y agoIf I close my eyes, open my mouth and tilt my head back I can hear a hum. Is this The Hum?
- adrianN 9y agoThis might be a case of https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/ https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/
- kortex 9y agoThat got me thinking: what if the hum is a two-part process? First, infrasound/near-DC pressure fluctuation triggers the tensor tympani reflex. Then, in susceptible individuals, the tensor muscle twitches, spasms, or otherwise locks up. Alternatively, it could be a resonance mode between infrasound stimuli and tension/relaxation of the tensor tympani. Eg. Pressure pulse -> TT reflex -> neural reflex drops as sound is blocked by TT -> repeat. Total speculation, but this would explain the person-dependent experience, as well as the inefficacy of earplugs, sound dampening, etc.
- stordoff 9y ago> A subreddit for those who can control their Tensor Tympani muscle. Oh weird, I always assumed that was something that people could just do. It never occurred to me that there would be any particular variance in it. Oddly enough, it seems a little easier to do if I close my eyes.
- teekert 9y agoThat page right there is why I never used Reddit and when I drop by I just don't understand it. So, your comment sounds interesting, I click the page and it's just a bunch of unrelated stuff with title's like "Does anybody else use it when they don't want to hear something ?" Hear what? What is the level above, what connects these posts?? The top of the page just says "Come for the cats stay for the something" and the top post says "Awesome new relevant CSS trick added to the subreddit." -- What?? the link I clicked suggests something about "earrumblersassemble". Clicking on a Reddit link is almost always a maddening experience for me. What is wrong with me?!
- MaxBarraclough 9y agoEven reddit has its moments. For that matter, so do even YouTube comments. It depends a lot on the subreddit (they're essentially different websites), and of course the people. You can often find the great Walter Bright himself answering questions on D, for instance - https://www.reddit.com/user/WalterBright https://www.reddit.com/user/WalterBright
- 9y ago
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoI had very bad tinnitus in my right ear for a few weeks that seriously fucked with my life, and turned out--thank God--to be a sinus issue. A doctor prescribed me a nasal spray and over-the-counter sinus pills, and it started slowly getting better after a few days. I only notice it if I'm looking for it now.
- chch 9y agoThis reminds me of the story of how composer John Cage was inspired to write his piece 4′33″ [1]: 'In 1951, Cage visited the anechoic chamber at Harvard University. An anechoic chamber is a room designed in such a way that the walls, ceiling and floor absorb all sounds made in the room, rather than reflecting them as echoes. Such a chamber is also externally sound-proofed. Cage entered the chamber expecting to hear silence, but he wrote later, "I heard two sounds, one high and one low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system in operation, the low one my blood in circulation." Cage had gone to a place where he expected total silence, and yet heard sound. "Until I die there will be sounds. And they will continue following my death. One need not fear about the future of music." The realization as he saw it of the impossibility of silence led to the composition of 4′33″.' [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4′33″ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4′33″
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoI did read about those, a "challenge" is how long you can stay in there before going mad - I think the longest one lasted for 45 minutes. I'd like to experience that sometime, like, true silence. Have to say that my current house is very quiet (especially compared to my previous one), but there's still some background noise from outside, neighbours, the ventilation, etc. Should get a decibel meter sometime. Anyway yes, sensory deprivation is weird.
- tylerjwilk00 9y agoThe 45 minutes is apparently a myth. You can view an interesting video on ultra-quiet anechoic chambers in this veritasium video [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXVGIb3bzHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXVGIb3bzHI
- mysterypie 9y ago> I slowly came to understand that my Hum was an internally generated sound. Surely you asked other people if they also heard a hum? If they said no, what made you not focus on the ear right from the beginning?
- moomin 9y agoNot a thought that would have occurred to me since I was always bothered by crappy CRT monitors and knew full well most people couldn’t hear it.
- Johnythree 9y agoIf you read the Hum forums, many couples report that they can both hear the Hum, while others don't. In my case I'm single, so the question is moot. But whatever, it is still possible that your partner also is a Hum sufferer.
- Double_a_92 9y agoI can produce noise in my ears on command. It sounds like loud, low-pitched white noise. I'm not sure what exactly im doing, but it feels like im contracting some muscle inside my head near the temples. Is this normal and could this be something similar?
- MzHN 9y agoI don't know the correct terms here, but there is a path from your throat to your ears that is normally closed. When you swallow or yawn the paths usually open, but some people can voluntarily open them. When you do it, you can hear a low humming, but also sounds through your mouth. Maybe this is what you mean? It's clearer if you're wearing for example hearing protection, and open your mouth and the paths.
- gebeeson 9y agoThe path from your throat to your ears is called the Eustachian tube.
- jebeng 9y agoPretty sure it's normal. Feels like I'm pushing from behind my eyes.
- KSS42 9y agoTry clenching your teeth. I can hear a sound when I first clench my teeth and then it dies down.